Subject –The Mystery of His (God’s) Will
Text - Ephesians 1:9 “Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in
himself:”
What is God’s will for you? Last week we looked at God’s
will in salvation, but God’s will for us does not end there. All Christians
needs to remember that before the foundation of the world God knew all His will
and His works. God said in Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world.” Therefore, we must conclude everything
that is God’s will in our life is ordained of God before the world was ever
created. Not only everything in our life, but everything and I mean everything!
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Therefore, for this study we want to stay on the subject of works and actions of
Christians. Most people, even most who call themselves Christian refute God as
nothing, useless, and under the subjection of the creature, but they do
not know God nor do they understand Gods workings. Take a
look back at verse 5 in Chapter 1 of Ephesians “Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will,” Now ask yourself, what part does God play in your
salvation and what part do you play, see it is all of God and by God thru Jesus
His Christ. Nothing makes me angrier than a Preacher to say, “God can’t change
your will” WHERE IN GOD’S WORD IS THAT IGNORANT STATEMENT? That is a
statement from a person that has no idea who God is, they live in a fantasy
world where their little god is begging them to make their choice, but this is
certainly not the God of the bible. Read verse 5 and see for yourself and you
must agree with me that it is an ignorant statement to say that God depends on
us to change our will for Him. The Potter is waiting on the clay to decide what
it wants to be. How could God predestinate anything if He did not already know
the results? How could God know all His works before the foundation of the
world if He had not PLANNED out in eternity past and EXACUTED that plan in time.
God cannot fail nor can God lose anything He has planned. We also see that
Jesus Christ will lose nothing that God the Father has given to Him. John
6:39 “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day.”
Now let us move on to God’s dealing in the believer’s life, which
is more of God’s will for you. What is God’s will for you, it is whatever God
predetermined it to be before the world began. If you are a Christian, then
whatever you are as a Christian is what God ordained for you personally before
the world began. God ordained the crucifixion of His beloved Son Jesus the Son
of man before the world began, and it was carried out exactly as He
foreordained. Acts 2:23 “Him,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” Jesus entire earthly
life was ordained of God, how many times did Jesus say He was sent to do His
Fathers will and that not of Himself.
John 6:37 - 39 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” We are
like Jesus, those of us who do for the Father, do it by the Fathers will,
His ordained will that He purposed for us before the foundation of the world. Whatever
in the church you are, God ordained it for you before the foundation of the
world. This is exactly what God is talking about in Ephesians 2:10 “For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…” not just in salvation
but as a Christian, church member, teacher, Minister, and as a Pastor. We are
not self-built; God has made us what we are from top to bottom. God gave you an
ability, what is your ability, and why are you not using your talent for God’s
glory? Do you know how many “Christians” use the churches to start their
professional music careers? They never return to the church to glorify the very
God that gave them that gift. The church is not a springboard it is a place to
worship and serve God on earth. How about Pastors, why does God set Pastors in
a church, to be the overseer and under-shepherd of the Lord’s flock. God doesn’t
teach you and cause you to be a great speaker for Him to advance your career for
larger churches and more money. God’s gift to you is for the church you Pastor,
not for moving on. I know there are Pastors that move on because God moves
them, but a lot move on for greener pastures. Calling that move a blessing from
God, but isn’t that like a church member getting a promotion that takes them
out of church and calls it a blessing from God. Elder Kelley Hinson once
advised me as I thought of leaving Texarkana to return to home for a church, Brother
Kelley said, “you better have a good reason to leave where you at now before moving
on” (paraphrased). God does not shop Pastors to greener pastures, being a
Pastor is like being a member of a family, the leader of the family
under-Christ, you better have God’s true approval before leaving. I am
certainly not saying that all Pastors leave a church out-of-God’s will, but
before leaving you better make sure it is God’s will for you. Christians, more
so for Pastors, we need humility. In 1 Peter 5:5 God said “...Yea, all
of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Christ Jesus is the greatest example of humility
to our Father, but how humble was Paul, in all he did for God listen closely to
his humble words in 1 Corinthians 15:10 - 11 "But by the grace of
God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain;
but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye
believed." Paul could have walked around like he was greater than all
others, look at what he accomplished, but Paul knew God’s graciousness in his
life, and never forgot. Folks, none of us, not a one is infallible, not a one
of us are self-made, not a one of us ought to think of our self as better than
the other. God will use others to recognize His greatness in us, for example
your church membership, you do not need to display it. You are what you are by
God’s grace, do not try to flaunt it. Romans 12:3 “For I say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think
of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Our greatest gift
from God is LOVE, if we cannot show love thru humility then we are not showing
God’s grace. Our test of friendship and love is our show of God’s love in us, not
our judging one another. We are loving one another as Christian’s not because
of doctrine, but as God loves us by grace given to us in Jesus Christ and the
salvation of us all. That is humility gifted by God. 1 John
2:10 “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is
none occasion of stumbling in him.” 1 John 3:17 “But whoso
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
